Failing out of nursing school...need advice/help please :(

[alison86786]

So I am currently in my first semester Accelerated BSN program and I am not doing well. It seems like everyone in the program has a previous medical background or bachelors degree in a scientific field (the program is designed for people who have a previous bachelors degree in something other than nursing, hence the accelerated pace ...to get the degree as quick as possible). I'm also a single mom to a 2-year old and I feel like the stress of taking care of my daughter while doing this extremely fast-paced program is killing me.

I'm worried if I fail, I won't be able to apply to another program because other admissions committees of schools will see and automatically toss my application. Pretty sure you can't expunge an academic record so I don't see any way of explaining myself out of this.

I really need some advice here from anyone who has been in this situation or if you know of anyone who was and what they did. Should I continue with the program and see if I pass or not? If I fail, am I totally screwed? Please be honest. I had all A's and A-'s in my prerequisites but now I'm worried these grades will really screw me up.

Should I consider an associates degree nursing program or regular paced BSN? I really want to be a nurse and I don't want to screw up a second time. I live in Florida so if anyone is familiar with Florida schools that are easier to get through than others, I would be so appreciative if you could let me know which ones. Clearly I didn't do my homework reading up on schools before I jumped into this :/

Thank you in advance for all your help and suggestions.

[EmDash]

It's not impossible to get into another nursing program if you are dismissed from one it seems, though it would be more difficult. It's also going to depend on what area you are looking at. A lot of the state universities in FL have a good number of applicants and are fairly competitive, so I'm not sure about those.

One thing I'd say is to talk to an adviser and one of the staff in the nursing program to see your options. Maybe they can help you with resources to be able to better deal with the pace, or they can give you what options you have regarding quitting the program. They might be able to help you leave the program without it being considered a "fail" or a "dismissal" (in my program, at least, if you quit or take a leave of absence while you are making a failing grade in a course, they consider it failing the class), which would be better for future applications to other programs.

If you have difficulty with the pace of an accelerated program, then yeah, I'd definitely say focus on regular pace programs. Then, if asked why you left your current program, you would be able to cite that you felt like the pace of a regular program would fit better with your life and your learning style.

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

Most nursing schools do not dismiss students after their first failure. They are given a second chance the following semester. I had two classmates fail our first Med/Surg class in my ABSN program. Since we only had one ABSN group per year, they were given the opportunity to enter the traditional BSN program the following semester in order to continue on in Nursing school.

[OR.Nurse.MJT, BSN, RN]

Which school are you attending? I am looking into an ASBN program in FL... you post makes me a little nervous.

[MiladyMalarkey, ASN, BSN]

Well now I can see why you asked about "easier" nursing schools in your other post. Other (good) nursing schools won't be easier content wise, but a traditional paced nursing program may be less "rigorous" in the fact that it doesn't move as quickly and you get a little more time to learn content. You may have to suck it up and power through this semester anyway. But your first step would probably be making a visit/calling other nursing programs in your area and see if they'd take you and your credits. Often this entirely dependent if they have an opening in their program (someone has to drop out or fail out and leaves a vacant spot you can take). If you fail out you may be facing an uphill battle getting back into a nursing program. Try to power through at least this semester. Good luck.